Struggling to find a lodger

cattie

I have to agree with jayss, it sounds pretty much the set up that an English Language school requires for the students they wish to place with host families, except that is usually 2 meals a day-breakfast & dinner.

I worked for many years with a language school as a host family & it was a great way to make your home pay for itself while still retaining control of it & to get to pretty much choose how long you wanted people to stay for, ie 3-4 weeks, 3 or 6 months or for the whole academic year.

Many students are out for the whole weekend & for perhaps 3 weeknights & when they are home, tend to prefer to spend a lot of time in their room, either on their laptop, watching tv or studying.

It's a great experience meeting so many different people & if you think this appeals to you, then research any local English Language schools that may be pretty close to you & make an application. You might have just missed the boat for this terms intake though.

katejo

cattie wrote: »

I have to agree with jayss, it sounds pretty much the set up that an English Language school requires for the students they wish to place with host families, except that is usually 2 meals a day-breakfast & dinner.

I worked for many years with a language school as a host family & it was a great way to make your home pay for itself while still retaining control of it & to get to pretty much choose how long you wanted people to stay for, ie 3-4 weeks, 3 or 6 months or for the whole academic year.

Many students are out for the whole weekend & for perhaps 3 weeknights & when they are home, tend to prefer to spend a lot of time in their room, either on their laptop, watching tv or studying.

It's a great experience meeting so many different people & if you think this appeals to you, then research any local English Language schools that may be pretty close to you & make an application. You might have just missed the boat for this terms intake though.

I agree with Cattie and Jayss. I have also seen Language Schools advertising for accommodation of this nature. aside from that type, it is pretty unusual to provide meals. In my days as a lodger (late 80's/early 90's) I never had meals provided and would not have wanted this arrangement. I have always done my own cooking. What if the lodger doesn't like your choice of meals or wants to return late in the evening due to other commitments such as an evening job? It would be so inflexible

Errata

Who on earth can be around to eat three meals a day seven days a week?

GwylimT

The meals sounds strange, not only would a lodger not be able to choose what to eat or when to eat, it could make you seem controlling, instead of allowing a lodger to treat their home as a home.

ianders

Comes across a bit like "new family member wanted"

np420

Thanks for all of the replies.

We as a city have a lot of foreign visitors and they have always enjoyed a meal being made.

There is an option for self-catering of course, and we have facilities for this. However, all of our previous lodgers have chosen the utilities + food included plan. That way they know exactly where they stand money wise.

I think that the point made being about it being the festive period is a good one.

With regard to Christianflatmate, that's a site where Christians like me can find a room or a lodger in a Christian environment.

Halle71

Reading this I assumed that the OP just meant that the lodger would be free to join in with family meals as and when required so I doubt there would be much saving if this was removed ie. in our family of four there is usually enough food to feed an extra person or two anyway so I wouldn't really charge for it.
I thing if it was phrased differently it might seem more appealing - 'you are welcome to eat with us' rather than ' we provide three meals a day'.

ognum

I only have questions

What is you location?
What are the facilities. En suite etc
Why meals?
Why females only?
What is the cost?

to me it sounds a very old fashioned set up but I guess that's because I don't understand why anyone would want this so hence the questions.

00ec25

its your house so you can have who you want in it but
- females only. When I was looking I did of course understand why a single mother with kids would not want a male lodger, or (in one case) why a bloke only wanted a twenty something girl lodger (dream on) but when older people stipulated female only yet were doing lets obviously intended for short term professionals wanting Mon - Thur only that was just daft and smacked of a house where costs would constantly be monitored
- presumably you are not getting enquiries at all,rather than people are looking but not taking? On that score you advert looks off putting, as many have said 3 meals a day is not possible for working people and does suggest that you run a house where the lodger has no freedom. id did welcome eating with my LL at times but not everyday and I couldn't at lunch
- there is of course no reason for me to know about the Christian advert if i see one of your other ads first, but if/when i found out that does tend to suggest a certain attitude and lifestyle which i would find offputting and would make you second choice .

In summary you have clearly positioned yourself to appeal to a niche market only, so not surprising you are struggling, plus it is this time of year

Kynthia

I think that perhaps the majority if people on this site aren't your usual target market so the feedback here will possibly only help you if you are looking to expand your market. Yes the time if year may be a problem, but could anything else have changed? Who is your target market and had that group shrunk? Has supply increased or competitors prices dropped?